The Soviets had reached the Dnepr, and had thrown some bridgeheads across it, but there had been no breakthrough in the earlier attack. The October offensive was supposed to burst through the German lines with a double envelopment and create a "strategic" bridgehead across the Dnepr 50-75 miles deep.

The Soviet 38th Army, under Chibisov, was to force the Desna River, reach thye Dnepr, and grab a bridgehead. The 50th Rifle Corp was to attack to the south of Kiev, but finding it too difficult, switched northward to attack with the 51th Rifle Corp north of the city. The 232nd Rifle Division, 5th Guards Tank Corp and 39th Tank Regiment were in support. The attack was led by the 51st Rifle Corp, which had no armor--that would come in the aftermath after exploiting out of the Liutezh bridgehead.

The 5th Guards Tank Corp had 90 tanks total--about 50 T-34s, 14 M-4 "Churchills" and the rest T-70s. They had forced the Desna River underwater--and most of the tanks had made it.

On the German side, the only "reserve" the Germans could muster in the sector was the 7th Panzer, which was mostly tied up in the north and under 50% strength. The offensive began on 10th October, and by the 11th the four divisions of the 38th Army break through to just west of Kiev. On the 12th, the Germans start to pinch off the northern feint with the 7th Panzer and 183rd Infantry, completing that by the 13th, thanks in large part to the Soviets retreating rather than the Germans forcing them back. The 38th Army continues to drive, but the Germans blow the Irpen bridges to slow them up.

On the 14th, the 7th Panzer is pulled back but the 226th Soviet Rifle Corps busts through the German line. By the 15th, the Soviet's 38th Army is rolling, the 7th Panzer is called back to stem the tide along with counterattacking forces of the 183rd and 340th German infantry divisions. The next day, the Germans add the 75th Infantry division from the south.

On the 17th, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corp pulls back and attacks to the south while the 38th's offensive steamrolls forward. The Germans pull the 8th Panzer down from the north, but the Soviet bridgehead expansion continues for a day or two until the 20th October, when the action dies down. The Soviets are shifting the 60th Army (inclduing 132nd and 280th Infantry divisions) to the 38th Army area.

Some of the reasons why the Soviet offensive failed to make a massive breakthrough was that its artillery could not be moved across the river. Zhukov ordered more attacks, but to no avail as the 38th had been fought out.

On the 21st, the 38th Army faced multiple German counterattacks which stabilized the line. The 7th Panzer is pulled out of the line again, down to 20% of strength, and the Germans are desperate for reserves.

Velikie Bukrin

While the northern pincer ground against the Germans, Zhukov put most of his faith in a big breakout with the southern pincer starting at the Velikie Bukrin bridgehead. An airborne drop of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Airborne (although only two of them dropped) was to coincide with the offensive. The big weapon was the 3rd Guards Tank Army consisting of the 6th and 7th Tank Corps and the 9th Mech Corps.

The standard operating procedure for the Soviets when crossing a river was to throw anything and everything that could get across--even to the extent of swimming across--to grab a bridgehead. That of course was a problem in the face of determined German opposition, so the airborne units were called in to help. In the case of this offensive, it was a race between the retreating Germans getting across the river and setting up lines and the advancing Russians trying to break through before they were set up.

For the offensive, the Soviets would use four Infantry Armies (40th, 47th, 27th, and 52nd), one Guards Tank Army (3rd), and one Air Army (2nd).

The 40th Army consisted of 52nd and 47th Infantry Corp, 8th Guard Tank Corp, 10th Tank Corp, and 1st Tank Regt. The 27th Army only had the 5th Rifle Division and 93rd Tank Brigade. The 47th Army included the 21st and 23rd Rifle Corp and the 3rd Guard Mechanized Corp. The 3rd Guards Tank Army consisting of the 6th and 7th Tank Corps and the 9th Mech Corps with a total of about 450 tanks.

The Soviets had grabbed multiple bridgeheads, and indeed the Germans were still attacking to eradicate them. There were three separate offensives from the Velikie Bukrin bridgehead: 12 Oct, 18 Oct, and 23rd October. The Germans could muster three infantry divisions and one panzer division against the bridgehead.

By 14 October, the Soviets had made minimal gains. The 15th saw heavy action, but the German line still held, although the Germans starting shifting reserves to meet the growing threat. The next day there was no real movement, but the 11th Panzer was summoned. The offensive peters out over the next day or two.

Zhukov orders another major attack on the 18th, but by the 21st, only minimal gains had been made and the German unit density is on the rise and the Germans occupy a continuous line of trenches, foxholes, and dugouts. The big attack of the 3rd Guards Tank Army is met head on and gains no big penetration, and is down to 40 tanks from its original 450.

The next three days see heavy fighting and about a 1 kilometer advance with appalling losses. It was so bad that Stavka intervened and postponed an attack scheduled for October 30.

Conclusion

All told, after 18 days of combat, the northen pincer of three full armies (13, 60, 38) lost about 85,000 men out of 250,000 committed (1/3!) and 150 tanks. The southern pincer (27, 52, 40, 47 Infantry and 3rd Guards Tank Army) lost 28,000 out of 185,000 (1/6) and 500 tanks. The Soviets buried these defeats in their official histories under "Battle for the Dnepr" and gave little acknowledgement to their failures.

German casualties were also heavy. Of note, however, is that on the German side during 1943 and 1944, remnants of divisions that were destroyed were tossed into ersatz organizations. For example, "Armee Abteilung C" north of Kiev, was created of necessity, not choice as the Soviets steamrolled forward. As an example, the 7th Panzer started with 110 tanks on October 1. By November 3, it was down to 15 tanks.

Lectures

Convention Introduction and Overview
Possible German-Czech War of 1938 by Jason Long
1943: Orders of Battle and Early D-Day by Walter Dunn
Kiev Offensive: October 1943 by Col. David Glantz
WWII Soviet Armor by Charles Sharp
Grand Master Europa and GR/D by Tom Johnson
Kiev Offensive: November 1943 by Col. David Glantz
WWII Soviet Air Force by Charles Sharp

E2000

Last Year's Convention: E2000

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com